The name Vanwall combined the name of its founder with that of his Thinwall bearings, produced at the Vandervell Products factory in Acton, London. Tony Vandervell had originally been one of the backers of British Racing Motors (BRM), but grew impatient with that project and struck out independently. In the early 1950s he entered a series of modified Ferraris in Formule Libre races under the name Thinwall Special, gaining experience of top-level competition before committing to building his own machinery.
The first Vanwall Specials were built for the new Formula 1 regulations in 1954 at Cox Green, Maidenhead. The chassis was designed by Owen Maddock and constructed by the Cooper Car Company. The engine, a 2.0-litre unit designed by Norton engineer Leo Kuzmicki, was essentially four Manx single-cylinder motorcycle engines sharing a common waterjacket and cylinder head, fed by AMAL motorcycle carburetors and fitted to a Rolls-Royce B40 military crankcase. Against full 2.5-litre Formula One competition it was outclassed, though the Goodyear disc brakes proved effective.
Development continued through 1955. Bosch fuel injection replaced the carburetors, and engine capacity was gradually increased to the full 2489cc. By the end of the season it was clear the engine was competitive but the Ferrari-derived chassis needed a complete rethink. Vandervell turned to a young designer named Colin Chapman, who redesigned the 1956 cars with aerodynamicist Frank Costin. The new spaceframe cars featured revised suspension — reduced unsprung weight at the rear, front torsion bars — and Costin's streamlined bodywork made the car significantly faster in a straight line than its rivals.
The revised car showed promise in 1956, winning a non-championship race at Silverstone. Stirling Moss drove the car to victory at Syracuse that year — his only outing for Vanwall while still contracted to Maserati — demonstrating clear potential. For 1957 Vandervell secured Moss full-time, alongside Tony Brooks and Stuart Lewis-Evans.
The 1957 season brought Vanwall's first championship Grand Prix victory. At the British Grand Prix at Aintree, Moss and Brooks shared a car — VW 5 — to take the win, making it the first time a British-built car had won a World Championship race. Moss went on to win at Pescara and Monza later that year, the Italian Grand Prix result so dominant that he finished with 41 seconds in hand over the Maserati of Fangio despite a pit stop.
For 1958 all three drivers remained. Moss won in the Netherlands, Portugal, and Morocco; Brooks won in Belgium, Germany, and Italy. Between them they won six of the season's championship rounds, and Vanwall claimed the inaugural Constructors' Championship — the first year the title was contested. Moss finished second in the Drivers' Championship behind Mike Hawthorn, separated by a single point, and Brooks ended the season third.
The season ended on a tragic note. In the final race in Morocco, Lewis-Evans was fatally injured in an accident, dying from his burns six days later.
Vandervell's health had been deteriorating, and his doctors advised rest. The 1958 season was the last in which Vanwall entered every round. Brooks made a single appearance at the 1959 British Grand Prix in a lower and lighter Vanwall variant but could not match the pace of the new mid-engined Cooper. Another attempt was made at the 1960 French Grand Prix with an upgraded car, but without the seriousness and resources of the championship years.
The final Vanwall was a rear-engined machine built for the 1961 Intercontinental Formula. Driven by John Surtees in two races and showing some promise, it was abandoned when the formula failed to attract broad European support.
In its competitive peak of 1957–1958, Vanwall achieved what no British constructor had managed since Henry Segrave's Sunbeam won the 1923 French Grand Prix: a British driver in a British car taking a World Championship victory. The team's Constructors' title in 1958 was historic, opening the era of British constructor dominance in Formula One that would continue through Cooper, Lotus, Brabham, and beyond. Vandervell himself died in 1967; the cars he built remain among the most respected Grand Prix machines of their era, several surviving in collections including the Donington Collection, which held complete examples of each Vanwall model type.